iPhone/iPad extensions

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Hi guys,

Please help me out with this.

If I understand well before you build a game for iPhone/iPad you have to have following assets:

  1. character@2x.png up to 256x256 pixels size

  2. character.png up to 128x128 pixels size

Can character@2x.png be smaller than 256x256 pixels and character.png be smaller than 128x128 pixels?

What about @3x and @4x png extensions (what are these used for)?

They are mentioned in literature, but I did not find them in any github Corona game projects (are they only used for Icons)?

Many thanks!  :slight_smile:

Ivan

#2

First there is no requirement that your character.png be 128x128. You can make it whatever size you like. Your @2x versions would be double the size of your base version. 

The need for @2x, @3x and @4x versions depends a lot on your config.lua.  Generally for games, your going to use a content area of 320x480 and your 1x assets should fit that general space. Depending on the screen you may end up with more width or more height, but the base images should look right for 320x480.  Then on screens that are 640px wide (when held in portrait mode), it would use the @2x versions of the image since the screen has 2x the resolution.  If you’re using the “adaptive” scale mode in your config.lua (more for business apps that games), then you will want a @3x version of your art for the iPhone 6plus.  But for games, you tend to not need @3x graphics, but you want @4x graphics if you want to support the retina iPads.  They will tend to use the @2x graphics on the non-retina iPads and the @4x graphics on the retina iPads.

Rob

#3

Thanks Rob!

Great explanation, as always.

Ivan

#4

First there is no requirement that your character.png be 128x128. You can make it whatever size you like. Your @2x versions would be double the size of your base version. 

The need for @2x, @3x and @4x versions depends a lot on your config.lua.  Generally for games, your going to use a content area of 320x480 and your 1x assets should fit that general space. Depending on the screen you may end up with more width or more height, but the base images should look right for 320x480.  Then on screens that are 640px wide (when held in portrait mode), it would use the @2x versions of the image since the screen has 2x the resolution.  If you’re using the “adaptive” scale mode in your config.lua (more for business apps that games), then you will want a @3x version of your art for the iPhone 6plus.  But for games, you tend to not need @3x graphics, but you want @4x graphics if you want to support the retina iPads.  They will tend to use the @2x graphics on the non-retina iPads and the @4x graphics on the retina iPads.

Rob

#5

Thanks Rob!

Great explanation, as always.

Ivan